It takes a lot to achieve entrepreneurial success. Very often, business success can translate into serious wealth, and most business owners are looking to become more affluent to take care of themselves and the people they love and support the causes they care about.
Many factors come into play for entrepreneurs to become successful and personally wealthy. One of the most critical factors is the quality of their business relationships and their ability to get more from those relationships.
In asking entrepreneurs if their business relationships are the kinds that work hard to make them more successful, the most common answers are either sometimes or no. This does not have to be the case. Just consider how things would change for you and your company if just about all your business relationships tried to help you excel.
According to Frank Carone, chairman of Oaktree Solutions and co-author of Everyone Wins! How You Can Enhance and Optimize Business Relationships Just Like Ultra-Wealthy Entrepreneurs, “Based on researching successful entrepreneurs, it’s clear that they work hard to build the best possible business relationships in any situation. They are process-oriented and motivated to do so because they seek to powerfully incentivize others to help them succeed and genuinely care about others. Their objectives are to get their business relationships to sincerely care about and invest in their success and regularly provide support, so they achieve much more than would otherwise be possible.”
It is an approach that is open to more than just top entrepreneurs. Most anyone can also get exceptional results by adopting the same approach. You can make it easy for your business relationships to see why they should help reach your goals, and often you make it much easier for them to provide that help.
The Business Relationship Hierarchy
To better understand your options and the role your business relationships can play in your success, consider the business relationship hierarchy, which summarizes the four levels of relationships you can have with others. In reviewing this hierarchy, think about your existing business relationships and where they fit today.
- Transactional relationships: At the bottom of the hierarchy, transactional relationships permeate all our lives. These are business relationships that are ethereal and limited. Examples include the car driver you hire to get to the airport or the plumber you hire to fix your heating system.
- Weak relationships: The next level up is weak relationships. These are people you deal with in business with whom you have some degree of rapport. You can call on them, and they will likely respond. Weak relationships in business are the norm.
- Strong relationships: More intense business relationships are categorized as strong. These are people you know well. They often comprise the business support network you regularly rely on. The people with whom you have strong relationships will be instrumental in helping you grow your company. They also could help you become seriously wealthy.
- Optimal relationships: At the pinnacle of the business relationship hierarchy are optimal relationships. These relationships are your “best friends in business” who are intensely motivated to do whatever they can to help you become more successful.
Getting More
There are distinct advantages to moving your business relationships higher up the hierarchy regarding your overall success, reputation and ability to tap new opportunities. Simply put, as you move people up, you get more benefits.
Your Advantages When You Move Up The Professional Relationship Hierarchy
| Levels | Success | Your Reputation | New Opportunities |
| Optimal | Ongoing and cumulative | Draws people and possibilities to you | Consistently |
| Strong | Common but intermittent | Solid, leading to more but infrequent opportunities | Periodically |
| Weak | Occasionally | Provides no real benefits | Rarely |
| Transactional | Episodic | None to speak of | Very rarely |
Your business reputation can make a very big difference to the fortunes of your company and yourself. Your professional brand, for instance, can make negotiations easier and prompt more people to work with (and for) you. “There are systematic ways for entrepreneurs to move their business relationship up the hierarchy,” says Carone. “Doing so strategically results in getter business success and greater personal wealth.”
Russ Alan Prince is the executive director of Private Wealth magazine and chief content officer for High-Net-Worth Genius. He is a strategist for family offices and the ultra-wealthy.